Visit from Westchester Coalition Against Islamophobia Highlights Discrimination

11/30/2018

The Westchester Coalition Against Islamophobia (WCAI) brought an important — and stark — message to Masters on Tuesday, November 13: Islamophobic prejudice and bigotry is a problem right here in Westchester.

Priscilla Read and Dr. Mahjabeen Hassan, who are both involved with WCAI, spoke at the Upper School Morning Meeting and spent the day in various classes and meetings with students and faculty. In addition to her affiliation with WCAI, Hassan is co-founder and chairperson of the American Muslim Women's Association. WCAI is a grassroots association of concerned individuals, non-Muslim and Muslim, committed to opposing bigotry and discrimination against Islam and its faithful and to defending the civil rights of all. The organization grew out of a concern over anti-Muslim advertisements displayed on some Metro North train platforms in August of 2012, and was started as an effort to have an ongoing response to Islamophobia in Westchester.

“Like most social phobias, [Islamophobia] is related to ignorance,” Read said to Upper School students. And since Muslims only make up about one percent of the United States population, “It’s very possible that the vast majority of non-Muslim Americans may not know any Muslims, and that makes it very easy to believe things that are not true.”

To demonstrate a common example of Islamophobia, Read showed students a video shot in a Texas bakery, where two actors played out a scene of discrimination — a baker refusing to serve a woman wearing a hijab — in front of actual customers who were unaware that the scene was not real. The bystanders reacted in a range of ways: many did nothing, others gave the baker plaudits for his discriminatory rhetoric, thus showing that they approved of his behavior, and some defended the woman. While the video was shot in a different part of the country, Read explained that “Prejudice is alive and well [in Westchester], and looks very much like this.”

Read and Hassan attended various classes throughout the day, and took part in a lunch-time Q&A session for both students and faculty, where questions about WCAI and about Islam ranged from the practical to the philosophical.

For Brian Cheney, the Upper School history and religion teacher who organized Read and Hassan’s visit, it is important for students to hear their message because “Islam is frequently characterized as violent. I want our students to understand that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, and see the quest for peace as a key component of their faith.” Cheney emphasized that “most Muslims are on the receiving end of violence in this country, and are not the ones creating it.” Indeed, Hassan noted that she knows a number of individuals who have been physically or verbally assaulted.

Cheney sees the day as an opportunity for students not just to gain a deeper understanding about Islam and the issues Muslims face today, but “to walk away with an encounter or a friendship … that allows them to be forces for good and peace and justice in the world, wherever they may end up.”